Meltdown Likely Under Way At Japan Nuclear Reactor

[atsiii]

Yes, amazing how the hopes of the nation and the world at large are with 50 (generally older) brave guys. With all of the technology in the world today its coming down to retirement aged guys with hoses....

anyways found a live feed to the plant... http://producermatthew.com/live2

It just struck me: considering where the plant is located, do these guys even know if their families are okay? Or whether their houses (or towns) are still standing? Amazing...

[jfchandler]

Next time we meet socially, James, I'm going to get out my geiger counter and give you a quick scan first... Can't be too careful these days... just in case you've been over-exposed!!!!

that's why I gave up that filthy disgusting habit almost a month ago (havent felt so terrible in my life btw)

[bkkjames]

anyways found a live feed to the plant... http://producermatthew.com/live2

Thanks. About as comforting as watching a live volcano between eruptions, as I did with Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

exactly, I am waiting for the intact one to go up at any moment....

[jfchandler]

I'm seeing nothing on that site...when I try it on my PC???

anyways found a live feed to the plant... http://producermatthew.com/live2

Thanks. About as comforting as watching a live volcano between eruptions, as I did with Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

[atsiii]

Nice thought, but I'm seeing no sign of that, SC, in monitoring Japanese media... There are widespread reports of their evacuation centers and medical facilities lacking in even the most basic supplies...even now almost a week after the quake and tsunami... NHK today reporting authorities in part blaming fuel shortages for their problems in delivering supplies. Earlier today, the report of 14 senior citizens dying, 12 of them at one evac center and two others en route.

You may well find that the Japanese are treating this tsunami as the disaster that it is, and that they are as well-prepared as anyone anywhere, and that their planes are being implemented with stoic and inscrutable efficiency. However, this thread is specifically focusing on only one small part of the overall catastrophe.

SC

Actually, all 14 died at the same center. Two died in transit to the school center, and 12 more at the school. The principal said he has thousands of people in the school, but only 4 medical people and almost no medical supplies. I will say the dead were all patients evacuated from the local hospital and were already at risk.

[bkkjames]

I'm seeing nothing on that site...when I try it on my PC???

anyways found a live feed to the plant... http://producermatthew.com/live2

Thanks. About as comforting as watching a live volcano between eruptions, as I did with Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

time to upgrade john - anyways some senior military looking guy making a statement - looks to calm for my liking.

[jfchandler]

I believe about 3/4s of the normal staff at the reactors have been sent away...home...or wherever because of the radiation..

For those remaining, they've probably been there nonstop since the quake..though by now certainly there are some newcomers who've arrived afterward as the problems there have grown.

It just struck me: considering where the plant is located, do these guys even know if their families are okay? Or whether their houses (or towns) are still standing? Amazing...

[bkkjames]

here's a different link... http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-gtv

[jfchandler]

NHK just now reporting police water truck at Daiichi is "on stand-by" to spray water... It's now almost 5 pm Japan time...and no water truck spraying yet in the day.

[jfchandler]

James, True and or the Thai govt. is still blocking all Ustream access, AFAIK... Certainly is for me here in BKK..

But I recognize that link you've posted.. I think it's just the regular NHK World broadcast.

here's a different link... http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-gtv

[bkkjames]

James, True and or the Thai govt. is still blocking all Ustream access, AFAIK... Certainly is for me here in BKK..

But I recognize that link you've posted.. I think it's just the regular NHK World broadcast.

here's a different link... http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-gtv

not blocking me John : got both links live on my desktop: time to get a Mac Mate?

[jfchandler]

time to upgrade john - anyways some senior military looking guy making a statement - looks to calm for my liking.

The blog guy's site did nothing in my Firefox...and when I tried in IE..the site just responds... waiting...and never fully loads...

Maybe he's overbooked.. What exactly is that blog video showing? Same or different from NHK?

If there's any techie out there, you ought to be able to look at the page source for the guy's web site and see the original address of the video he's re-broadcasting.

I can't load the page.

Edited March 17, 2011 by jfchandler

[bkkjames]

time to upgrade john - anyways some senior military looking guy making a statement - looks to calm for my liking.

The blog guy's site did nothing in my Firefox...and when I tried in IE..the site just responds... waiting...and never fully loads...

Maybe he's overbooked.. What exactly is that blog video showing? Same or different from NHK?

If there's any techie out there, you ought to be able to look at the page source for the guy's web site and see the original address of the video he's re-broadcasting.

I can't load the page.

I am on Firefox: works fine for now: same military guy was chatting - now video of the plant again.

Police water cannon trucks standing by at #Fukushima 1 to douse Unit 3. 11 SDF water trucks on the way - NHKWorld (not live)

Edited March 17, 2011 by bkkjames

[jfchandler]

Thru True Internet...or other, James?

not blocking me John : got both links live on my desktop: time to get a Mac Mate?

[Chopperboy]

"Two self-defense force helicopters dumped seawater onto reactor 3 on Thursday morning in an attempt to cool down its overheating fuel pool, delivering 7.5 tons of water in four raids. No less than a hundred raids were required to produce the required effect, but due to the high radiation level of 87.7 millisievert per hour at an altitude of 300 feet the operation had to be aborted."

Some figures here on the amount of water required, if correct thats 187.5 cubic meters.

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-nuclear-crisis-critical/

[bkkjames]

Thru True Internet...or other, James?

not blocking me John : got both links live on my desktop: time to get a Mac Mate?

we are on True at the office: anyways looks like they have left the live feed of the plant to regular news - my understanding from looking at the tweets was the Military (police) guy was explaining that they were about to try and use those trucks to spray water on Reactor 3.

[atsiii]

So... it's 5pm in Japan, is anyone seeing anything about the water canons pumping water or the completed power line to the facility?

Earlier today self defense and tepco talked about the criticallity of getting water on the #3 pool today--not tomorrow. But I'm not seeing anything going on???

Edited March 17, 2011 by atsiii

[JulianLS]

time to upgrade john - anyways some senior military looking guy making a statement - looks to calm for my liking.

The blog guy's site did nothing in my Firefox...and when I tried in IE..the site just responds... waiting...and never fully loads...

Maybe he's overbooked.. What exactly is that blog video showing? Same or different from NHK?

If there's any techie out there, you ought to be able to look at the page source for the guy's web site and see the original address of the video he's re-broadcasting.

I can't load the page.

I think what you are looking for is this:

http://livepass.conviva.com/lpconfig/cfg/c3.platform=FL&c3.dver=2.23.1.40793&c3.alt=id&c3.customerName=c3.Ustream?random=2101460364&uuid=1093941113

[bkkjames]

So... it's 5pm in Japan, is anyone seeing anything about the water canons pumping water or the completed power line to the facility?

just this..

A water cannon truck is in place now to spray water. It is about to begin. reactor number 3 is top priority. NHK #fukushimaTwitter - 2594 minutes ago

Police high-presser water cannon truck will soon start discharging water to the Unit 3, Fukushima Daiichi. Will starts around 17:20 NHK saysTwitter - 3030 seconds ago

Edited March 17, 2011 by bkkjames

[jfchandler]

Supposedly, each of the four helicopter drops was capable of delivering 7.5 tons of water...

I think they meant below that they would have had to have made 100 air drops to supply enough water to make a difference...

The Japanese have not publicly said they halted the air drops because of radiation...only that they didn't do much to reduce radiation levels around the reactors.

"Two self-defense force helicopters dumped seawater onto reactor 3 on Thursday morning in an attempt to cool down its overheating fuel pool, delivering 7.5 tons of water in four raids. No less than a hundred raids were required to produce the required effect, but due to the high radiation level of 87.7 millisievert per hour at an altitude of 300 feet the operation had to be aborted."

Some figures here on the amount of water required, if correct thats 187.5 cubic meters.

http://rt.com/news/f...risis-critical/

[Chopperboy]

"In fact, just five years ago, the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. or TEPCO, admitted to falsifying temperature readings for cooling materials at Fukushima as early as 1985."

In 2002, the Japanese government disclosed that at least 29 cases of damage to the reactor had been swept under the carpet. That incident led TEPCO’s president and some senior officials to quit over the scandal.

In 2003, 17 TEPCO-operated plants were ordered to be shut down, again because the operator lied about what was happening at these sites.

As it stands, Japan seems to be balancing on the brink of a nuclear meltdown. And while the official version of events implores everyone to stay calm, history shows not all their words can be taken at face value.

“I don’t think the government is lying to it citizens, but it not telling everything it knows …and deliberately trying to downplay the amount of radiation being released,” he stated. “That seems to be the way the bureaucracy is working.”

http://rt.com/news/japan-nuclear-information-hushed/

[jfchandler]

Indeed, TEPCO did have a big scancal back in 2002 about falsifying records related to their nuclear plant operations. That led to the resignation of their then president and others, in typical Japanese fashion... Detail of that posted in this thread previously via a Reuters article.

[Chopperboy]

Supposedly, each of the four helicopter drops was capable of delivering 7.5 tons of water...

"Two self-defense force helicopters dumped seawater onto reactor 3 on Thursday morning in an attempt to cool down its overheating fuel pool, delivering 7.5 tons of water in four raids. No less than a hundred raids were required to produce the required effect, but due to the high radiation level of 87.7 millisievert per hour at an altitude of 300 feet the operation had to be aborted."

http://rt.com/news/f...risis-critical/

I think you are correct - the Chinook can carry 10,000L but it could be for safety reasons they may have lowered this to 7.5 cubic meters. So in which case they would need 750 cubic meters.

[atsiii]

Great information, all. But back to the topic--it's 5:30pm in Japan and they talked of the dire need to get water into the pools "today," not tomorrow. But I can't see any activity. They talked about completing a connection to the grid this afternoon... but I can't see any mention of anything completed. Can anyone see anything happening? Has the Emperor's jet left the country?

[bkkjames]

Great information, all. But back to the topic--it's 5:30pm in Japan and they talked of the dire need to get water into the pools "today," not tomorrow. But I can't see any activity. They talked about completing a connection to the grid this afternoon... but I can't see any mention of anything completed. Can anyone see anything happening? Has the Emperor's jet left the country?

Police high-presser water cannon truck will soon start discharging water to the Unit 3, Fukushima Daiichi. Will starts around 17:20 NHK saysTwitter

[jfchandler]

It's already 5:30 pm Japan time...

I was going to joke, if it was Thailand, the BIB would be negotiating over how much extra tea money they'd want for hazardous duty...

Great information, all. But back to the topic--it's 5:30pm in Japan and they talked of the dire need to get water into the pools "today," not tomorrow. But I can't see any activity. They talked about completing a connection to the grid this afternoon... but I can't see any mention of anything completed. Can anyone see anything happening? Has the Emperor's jet left the country?

Police high-presser water cannon truck will soon start discharging water to the Unit 3, Fukushima Daiichi. Will starts around 17:20 NHK saysTwitter

Edited March 17, 2011 by jfchandler

[shiva1961]

I suppost its exagerated to think that radiation could reach thailand?....

[bkkjames]

It's already 5:30 pm Japan time...

I was going to joke, if it was Thailand, the BIB would be negotiating over how much extra tea money they'd want for hazardous duty...

Great information, all. But back to the topic--it's 5:30pm in Japan and they talked of the dire need to get water into the pools "today," not tomorrow. But I can't see any activity. They talked about completing a connection to the grid this afternoon... but I can't see any mention of anything completed. Can anyone see anything happening? Has the Emperor's jet left the country?

Police high-presser water cannon truck will soon start discharging water to the Unit 3, Fukushima Daiichi. Will starts around 17:20 NHK saysTwitter

I think 530 pm was an estimate.....

[bkkjames]

I suppost its exagerated to think that radiation could reach thailand?....

at this point yes - unless the prevailing wind changes dramatically. Anyways, if you see HK panicking over raised levels of Radiation - get a move on south!

[MikeyIdea]

I'm posting this especially for James... A very nice L.A. Times graphic on the impact of different kinds of radiation exposure.

Note the reading in the upper right column, 80,000 microsievert per year (80 milli-sieverts) from smoking a pack a day of ciggies for a year... You get radiation exposure from smoking ciggies???

that's why I gave up that filthy disgusting habit almost a month ago (havent felt so terrible in my life btw)

Congratulations, the most difficult month is the first one so you have done very well getting that far. It will get easier - no, that's not true. It will get less difficult with every month that passes by. I stopped 2 years ago and I still feel I want to smoke sometimes

Beware of the health hazards involved in stopping smoking. I put on 10 kilos in 6 months when I stopped and am still struggeling to keep it there

Dangerous to underestimate the power of smoking and nuclear reactors

Edited March 17, 2011 by MikeyIdea